Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967-2014)

[pfrduke]

Dead at 46.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/mo...-at-46.html?hp

[chaosmage]

Unreal. Just unreal. Was always hoping I'd get to see him play "The Penguin" from Batman.

Addiction is a terrible beast, and it's a truly sad loss for everyone. Unbelievable.

[weezie]

He was terrific in 25th Hour.

What a shame.

[Blue in the Face]

That's awful, he was really a wonderful actor. RIP

[Edouble]

I thought he was amazing in Scent of a Woman. He was perfect as the spoiled, private school, rich kid, but he never did much for me after that.

Sad though, to hear that he is dead. Seems a bit selfish of him to indulge in the drugs, as he had children. I guess addiction is a I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. though.

[Highlander]

I thought he was amazing in Scent of a Woman. He was perfect as the spoiled, private school, rich kid, but he never did much for me after that.

Sad though, to hear that he is dead. Seems a bit selfish of him to indulge in the drugs, as he had children. I guess addiction is a I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this.I'm a real wanker for saying this. though.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ady-killed-17/

Saw this today as well. Wonder if these two stories end up being related.

[NashvilleDevil]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ady-killed-17/

Saw this today as well. Wonder if these two stories end up being related.

I believe his bags were marked Ace of Spades. Terrible loss, loved him in Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Charlie Wilson's War and Before the Devil Knows Your Dead, which was Lumet's last movie.

And I can't forget him as Lester Bangs in Almost Famous.

[77devil]

James Lipton just declared Hoffman the greatest actor of his generation. That's a tad hyperbolic but his range and versatility were incredible. Lipton went on to say that Hoffman had learned and developed all the techniques of acting, and was a great teacher, but it was his innate talent that set Hoffman apart.

[Indoor66]

"Fame is filled with spoiled children
They grow fat on fantasy"

- Jewel - Goodbye Alice in Wonderland

[Mal]

Was there a film in which he appeared that Hoffman didn't make better? I can't think of any. He added depth everywhere, and had incredible range. Just think of the different roles - from the unabashedly unconventional intellectual (Capote), to condescending rich guy with a menacing edge (Talented Mr. Ripley), to pitiful loser (Boogie Nights), to gloriously debauched (Cold Mountain), to psychological puppetmaster (The Master), to can't tell if he's evil or just really kind (Doubt), to world weary, hopeless romantic and reluctant mentor (Almost Famous), and a lot in between.

A huge loss all around. Very sad to hear this yesterday.

[BD80]

James Lipton just declared Hoffman the greatest actor of his generation. That's a tad hyperbolic but his range and versatility were incredible. ...

I'm not really arguing the point, but who else would be in the discussion (also what is "his generation")?

[brevity]

Was there a film in which he appeared that Hoffman didn't make better? I can't think of any.

Twister? I'm not a fan, though I will admit having a strong emotional reaction to his performance in Scent of a Woman (credit to Edouble for the reminder). I'm no authority on his career -- his headlining a film was reason enough for me to avoid it -- so I can't tell you if his mastery of sleazeballs was by accomplishment or pigeonholing.

James Lipton just declared Hoffman the greatest actor of his generation. That's a tad hyperbolic but his range and versatility were incredible. Lipton went on to say that Hoffman had learned and developed all the techniques of acting, and was a great teacher, but it was his innate talent that set Hoffman apart.

I'm not really arguing the point, but who else would be in the discussion (also what is "his generation")?

James Lipton is the Dick Vitale of the acting field. The term is just vague nonsense by people (him and others) who need to slap a superlative they don't fully understand. By most official accounts, a person born between 1965 and 1975 would solidly belong to Generation X, and those born a few years earlier or a few years later might also be included. PSH was born in 1967.

There's probably a good thread/poll to be made about where PSH stands among Generation X actors. Whoever starts the thread would have to decide upon the qualifying years. Stick with 1965 to 1975? Ten years is an exceedingly short time for a generation; cultural experts might apply it now, but they wouldn't back then. 20 years was a more appropriate measure, and some definitions of Generation X go with the birth years of 1961-1980. This encapsulates the Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Carter presidencies, and avoids overlap with the Millennials. The problem with this is an overlap with the Baby Boomer generation, which wants to claim the Kennedy years. So, 1964-1980?

PSH would benefit from this definition because he'd be one of the older options; for these purposes, age is equivalent to gravitas. (Death too, I guess.) I lack the time, but others are free to determine who else would contend for the title.

[77devil]

I'm not really arguing the point, but who else would be in the discussion (also what is "his generation")?

Gen. Xrs. or the group after Nicholson/Pacino/De Niro/Dustin Hoffman. Contemporaries would include Damon, Wahlberg, Affleck, DiCaprio, and Toby Maguire. Maybe the competition wasn't that tough.

[NashvilleDevil]

Gen. Xrs. or the group after Nicholson/Pacino/De Niro/Dustin Hoffman. Contemporaries would include Damon, Wahlberg, Affleck, DiCaprio, and Toby Maguire. Maybe the competition wasn't that tough.

What about Sean Penn, Clooney, Rockwell, Downey, Depp? All those guys were born between 60-69.

[77devil]

What about Sean Penn, Clooney, Rockwell, Downey, Depp? All those guys were born between 60-69.

And Tom Cruise.

[throatybeard]

Strauss/Howe, probably the most accomplished researchers when it comes to Anglo-American generations, put X at 1961-1982. They don't like the label "X" but don't have a better one, referring to us as the Thirteenth Generation (since reliably permanent European settlement of North America)

They warn that it's pretty silly to put individuals on one side of a divide based on their birth date if their cultural inclinations align with the other side. Presidents Carter and Bush 41 were born within months of each other in 1924, Strauss/Howe's last year for the GI generation. Papa Bush is GIier and Carter is more Silent.

The most prominent example of this I can think of, at present, is our President. Their dates would have Obama as X, but he's clearly, clearly Boom if you read their essays. First thing he did in office was to appoint a bunch of Clinton people. I'm not bringing up presidents to politicize things, but just because people know them.

PSH is pretty clearly X.

Strauss/Howe are fascinating to me. They are textbook "grand unified theory of everything" type guys. They probably leave behind some mess where the details are concerned, but their overarching thesis smells accurate to me.

[throatybeard]

By the way, PSH is great, but my Gen X actor list starts with Cate Blanchett.

[OldPhiKap]

I'm not really arguing the point, but who else would be in the discussion (also what is "his generation")?

Agree, it is a different thread.

[throatybeard]

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headline...ady-killed-17/

Saw this today as well. Wonder if these two stories end up being related.

I've seen similar stories about Baltimore. It would make sense if the tainted drugs are all up and down the I-95 corridor. Apparently the dealers spike the heroin with whatever secondary substance they're using, like Fentanyl in this case, and they test it out on the straight-up junkies. What happens is that some less-frequent users end up being collateral damage when their system gets a batch of it and can't handle it as well as the junkies.

If so, this checks out perfectly with what the press is saying about Hoffman. (Clean for many years, relapsed a bit in the last year when his pain pills stopped working as well). Makes sense.

Fentanyl is crazy, just crazy.

[Mal]

Strauss/Howe are fascinating to me. They are textbook "grand unified theory of everything" type guys. They probably leave behind some mess where the details are concerned, but their overarching thesis smells accurate to me.

Likewise. Great tangent. They had a cover article in The Atlantic in about '92 or '93 that I kept for years, which first introduced me to their work. They put the entirety of Gen X experience in an easy to grasp context, and made me understand my own simmering resentment of the total cultural dominance of the Boomers. I related to it a lot more than to Douglas Coupland, who was more than a decade older and writing about stages in life that I hadn't reached. Their theories on cultural identity and gap conflict has been one of the prisms through which I most commonly view contemporary American culture and politics, not to mention history.